OWINGS MILLS, Md.—On the night of Sept. 22, Ravens receiver Torrey Smith received a phone call that his younger brother Tevin had been killed in a motorcycle accident. Hours later, Smith had seven catches for 127 yards and scored two touchdowns in the Ravens' 31-30 victory against the New England Patriots.

Smith doesn’t answer questions about the death of his brother anymore, but he remembers the love and camaraderie from his teammates and how that parallels with a season in which the Ravens have won five games by five points or less.

Ravens receiver Torrey Smith has the attention of the Patriots, who host Baltimore on Sunday night in the AFC championship game for the second straight year. (AP Photo)

“I think we’re definitely a resilient team,” said Smith, in his second season. “I don’t think it has anything to do with me individually.

"Obviously, I have my own personal loss that my team helped me get through, but that is just how we are. You look at the games that we have been in and the games that we have come out on top ... even the games that we lost, we never laid down for anyone. We continued to fight, and that’s just how we are and who we are as Ravens.”

Smith always perseveres. Coming out of the University of Maryland, he was branded a “speed” guy who couldn’t run precise routs and dropped too many passes because of poor hands placement.

Those criticisms have faded.

Against Denver’s Champ Bailey last week, long regarded as one of the premier cornerbacks in the NFL, Smith caught three passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns. There were two other times in the first half that Smith beat Bailey, but he failed by inches to connect with quarterback Joe Flacco.

“He’s always been able to run and be the guy that makes all the plays down the field,” said Belichick. “He can also run after the catch on the shorter and intermediate routes. If you give him a big cushion, that’s a problem too.

“He’s made a lot of big plays down the field on deep balls, and that’s opened up things for him underneath as well,” Belichick continued. “He’s made a jump to being a very productive NFL receiver, and that was maybe less consistent in college. But again, a lot of that has to do—like any receiver’s production—with the quarterback he is playing with.”

Smith is a tireless worker. With the exception of ageless linebacker Ray Lewis, no player works harder during the offseason than Smith. While most players were packing up and preparing to go home one day after last year’s 23-20 AFC championship game loss to New England, Smith was back at the team’s training complex working out for the 2012 season.

It’s easy to see the improvements in his game. As a rookie, he sometimes would fail to get his hands away from his body and passes would bounce off his chest. Because of his speed, Smith always could go vertical, but it was running other routes like the deep comeback that gave him problems.

He still struggles at times with the route running, but he gets such respect that most cornerbacks have to play off him, so he is open on hitches and slants.

He has no problems squeezing a football.

“It’s been a process,” said Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome. “I’m not surprised, because I see how hard he works and what he expects of himself. He never gets complacent, and being around guys like Anquan Boldin and coach Jim Hostler has made him even more professional. The great thing is that he is going to continue to grow.”

In two seasons, Smith has 99 catches for 1,696 yards and 15 touchdowns. He is ranked fourth in the NFL this season averaging 17.4 yards per catch. Against Denver last week, Smith scored on a 59-yard reception where he simply blew by Bailey.

Then, right before the first half ended, Flacco and Smith teamed up for a 32-yard touchdown strike on the right sideline, where Smith made a great adjustment and then snatched the ball out of the air.

In last season’s AFC championship game, Smith had three catches for 82 yards and a touchdown. But the Patriots have made some changes since then, with Aqib Talib now a starting cornerback. Talib probably will match up against Smith.

“They’re a good football team, and they’re still going to attack us in what they feel like is going to put pressure on us,” said Flacco. “I think they’re going to probably come up and put pressure on our receivers.

"They do a good job of playing very well and playing some man [coverage] underneath, and like I said, getting pressure, getting their hands on those guys to kind of re-route them a little bit. So, we’ll have to be very good this week at combating that a little bit and running crisp routes and making sure that we don’t allow them to hold us up,” said Flacco.